"I feel like today's workout is equivalent to a whole month's worth for me." Leticia lay on the soft grass, looking completely burned out.
Beside her, Bai Ling appeared fine on the surface, but if you looked carefully, you could see fine beads of sweat forming on her forehead.
The battle that had just ended was quite a burden for both sides.
"You said we'd just practice casually, but you actually got serious. Do you have no shame?" After catching her breath, Leticia began settling accounts.
Bai Ling blinked her eyes. Leticia was clearly the one who got serious first.
"You were the one who started it!" she retorted.
"You started it! You changed your moves when I hadn't even changed mine yet."
"Nonsense!"
In fact, these two had the exact same thought—they both wanted to use their full strength to quickly take down their opponent and establish their dominant position.
But they never expected their opponent had the exact same idea. This was truly a case of tip of the needle meeting point of wheat.
Except for their ultimate techniques, Leticia and Bai Ling used almost all of their skills, but they couldn't determine a winner.
In the end, it was Leticia who first disengaged from the battlefield, saying she was tired and didn't want to fight anymore.
This battle left the two girls watching from the sidelines completely stunned.
"So amazing! Miss Bai and Miss Qianqian's swordsmanship is so superb." Mo Zili's eyes sparkled with admiration.
Little Ya was full of pride—after all, this was her sister and her Sister Qianqian. "Sister and Sister Qianqian are truly evenly matched."
Yes, evenly matched. But for these two girls whose swordsmanship wasn't particularly great, perhaps "novices pecking at each other" would be a more appropriate description.
"Hah, it's been so long since I exercised like this. I feel like all the bones in my body are about to rust." Leticia rolled around on the ground, and her clean sportswear immediately picked up black stains.
"Your clothes are dirty." Bai Ling couldn't help but point out.
"It's fine. I'll just take a bath later and change clothes."
Please, this was Leticia's own home. She could change clothes in the morning, afternoon, and evening if she wanted.
Demon King had so many clothes in her wardrobe that even she didn't know the exact count. She only knew she had an enormous amount—enough to wear different outfits every day for a whole year.
"Little Ya, Little Mo, come take a bath with us too. You've worked up a sweat, and it'll be uncomfortable if you don't wash it off." Leticia sat up from the ground and spoke to the two girls by the chairs.
Mo Zili hadn't actually sweated, but for her close protection, Leticia didn't plan to let her leave her or Bai Ling's vicinity.
It was just soaking in the water anyway. Mo Zili had nothing else to do, so what was the harm in wasting a little time?
But upon hearing the word "bath," especially hearing Leticia say the word "bath," Mo Zili's face immediately turned pale.
She recalled that nightmarish experience from two nights ago. Leticia's examination felt like taking a small knife and scraping every bone in her body.
She only lasted a short while before losing consciousness, and when she woke up the next day, she could still feel some lingering pain in her body.
Now she had developed an allergy to Leticia's mention of baths.
"Sister Mo, why are you shaking?" Little Ya asked curiously.
"It's nothing, just remembered some unpleasant things."
Hearing this, Leticia knew exactly what Mo Zili meant. "Don't worry, this time it's really just a simple bath. We won't do anything else."
This time? Really just a simple bath?
Didn't Sister Qianqian's words imply that last time wasn't a simple bath?
Detective Little Ya felt she had caught a flaw in Leticia's words. She raised her little head and asked, "So last time wasn't a simple bath?"
"Um, it wasn't the kind of 'not simple' you're imagining, but last time the main task really wasn't bathing." Leticia scratched her hair. "That person surnamed Bai was there too. Ask your sister about it, Little Ya."
Sister was there too? Then it was fine. Little Ya had thought Sister Qianqian had done something unseemly with Mo Zili behind her sister's back.
Since her sister was present at the time, Sister Qianqian couldn't possibly do such things to Mo Zili in front of her sister.
Even if Sister Qianqian had the guts, her sister would definitely beat that courage out of her.
"Sister?" Little Ya looked at Bai Ling, who had walked over with Leticia.
"Just did a physical examination. It was probably the painful kind." Bai Ling explained concisely, dispelling Little Ya's doubts.
Pulling along Mo Zili, whose legs wouldn't stop trembling, the group arrived at the bathroom.
Like a fish slipping into the water, Leticia squinted her eyes and showed an extremely blissful expression.
At the same time, Xue'er also came in carrying several glasses of iced drinks, placing them within the girls' reach before reminding them, "All the drinks are alcohol-free. Everyone can drink them with confidence."
"Yay!" Little Ya immediately ran to the pool's edge to grab a drink. "Delicious!"
"Of course it's delicious." Leticia laughed. Xue'er's skills were always trustworthy.
She also reached for a drink, but then decided she didn't like the color, so she casually handed it to Bai Ling who had come over.
"You drink this one. I don't think this color suits me."
Looking at the green drink Leticia had forced into her hands, Bai Ling felt Leticia might have some serious problem.
But she couldn't really say anything, so her gaze fell on Mo Zili, who was alone and huddled in a corner.
"Here, she asked me to give this to you." Walking to Mo Zili's side, Bai Ling handed the drink Leticia had given her to Mo Zili.
Mo Zili blinked. She hadn't heard what Leticia said to Bai Ling just now, so she really thought Leticia had asked Bai Ling to bring it over.
"Then, please thank Miss Qianqian for me." The girl held the green drink and began sipping it in small mouthfuls.
The drink tasted quite good and helped calm Mo Zili's somewhat frightened mood.
Bai Ling had already returned to Leticia's side and picked up the last glass of drink.
"Good grief, you just dumped what I didn't want on Little Mo, huh? Have some shame, Miss Bai." Leticia was quite displeased with Bai Ling's behavior and expressed her dissatisfaction clearly.
"This is called wisdom."
......
While the girls here were happily playing, on the other side, the malicious villains seemed somewhat disheveled.
"Ugh, cough cough cough." Spitting out a mouthful of black blood, the middle-aged woman who looked somewhat better than yesterday gazed at the window tightly covered by curtains.
That short-haired woman said she was going to check the situation around the manor, but a whole day had passed, and she began to suspect that woman had been captured by the Demon King's people.
Just checking the situation shouldn't take this long.
Unless that short-haired woman had something else to do, like taking the item into her own hands.
The trust between the middle-aged woman and the short-haired woman was fragile to begin with. They hadn't even met face-to-face until recently, their only connection being through letters.
The foundation of their cooperation was merely having a common friend and common goal.
The middle-aged woman hated demons, so naturally she also hated the short-haired woman who was a demon.
"Can you really help me destroy the demon race?" Her gaze fell on the black staff placed in the corner.
When she was about to be defeated by that Divine Envoy from Divine Throne a few days ago, the god residing in the staff gave her power and made a promise.
If the woman could release it, then it would fulfill the woman's wish and destroy everything about the demon race.
The woman didn't know if this self-proclaimed god could do what it promised, but it was at least hope. Moreover, the short-haired woman seemed to believe in this completely.
After all, it was the short-haired woman who told her to find this staff.
"There's no way to defeat the Demon King through normal means. Only through abnormal, extraordinary power can the Demon King be defeated," the short-haired woman had said.
Divine power belonged to this kind of force.
Extraordinary—the woman believed this. Whether it was the divine power used by Divine Throne's Divine Envoy or the power that god granted her after reaching an agreement, both proved how powerful divine force was.
If just the granted power was already so strong, the woman didn't dare imagine how powerful the god's true form was.
Perhaps it really could destroy the entire Demon Realm.
Click—a faint sound reached the woman's ears. She immediately rolled off the bed and grabbed the staff.
Only after the short-haired woman opened the door and entered the room did she slowly lower the magic staff.
"I thought you'd been captured by the Demon King's people." The woman said coldly.
The short-haired woman showed a "what can I do" expression: "I was indeed discovered. It took some time to shake off the pursuers."
"Doesn't this alert them?" The woman raised her voice. If discovered, the Demon King would definitely strengthen defenses around that manor, which would negatively affect their future operations.
The short-haired woman rolled her eyes. Alert them? There wasn't even grass, let alone a snake to alert.
"That place doesn't need to be visited anymore," she said.
"Didn't you say the method to cultivate another Little Mo was hidden there? Why don't we need to go anymore?"
"That place is gone. Where the manor originally stood has become a big crater. I don't know what happened." The short-haired woman helplessly described what she had seen in detail. "I saw the Demon King's subordinates cleaning up that area of ruins. Perhaps the things in the manor have already been taken by the Demon King."
This was naturally the worst-case scenario. A slightly better situation would be that the Demon King didn't get those things either.
At least then the Demon King wouldn't know what they specifically wanted to do.
"But without those things, how do we break the staff's seal?" The woman asked unwillingly.
She had asked the god in the staff whether she could sacrifice herself to release it, and the god's answer was no.
"You're not qualified enough," the god's answer was cold. "Only those with talent can perform the sacrifice to break my seal."
As for who was qualified, the god also gave an answer—Mo Zili.
"From the blood you carry, I smell a familiar scent. That girl's ancestors were once my servants. Her bloodline bears my mark. Sacrifice her, and my seal can be broken."
But the problem was that Mo Zili was unique, and her bloodline was also unique.
"There's no choice. Either we take the chance route and go to remote places to slowly find suitable sacrificial targets, or we get Mo Zili back." The short-haired woman answered.
The first method, while safe, would undoubtedly take an extremely long time. Finding qualified sacrifices required not only time but also luck.
Perhaps in the entire Demon Realm, only Mo Zili had the qualifications to break the divine seal.
The second method was more dangerous. Mo Zili had been taken by someone with considerable strength. The short-haired woman and the woman didn't know the purpose of whoever took Mo Zili, but the worst case would be if the person who took Mo Zili was from Divine Throne, and now Mo Zili was in the Demon King's hands.
"Let's hope it's not that situation." The short-haired woman sighed. "Give me some of her blood. I'll check where she is now."
With Mo Zili's blood, the short-haired woman had several methods to track Mo Zili's location. After all, she was a genuine magic master.
Although it would take considerable time to prepare the magic, the woman needed to recover from her injuries anyway, so spending some time wasn't a problem.
......
"Someone is spying on Little Mo's location." Late at night, Leticia knocked on Bai Ling's door and said to the sleepy white-haired girl.
Leticia had placed a complete set of defensive magic on Mo Zili, which naturally included anti-reconnaissance magic.
Being tracked and cursed through blood or personal belongings was a problem every demon had to learn to face, and as the Demon King, Leticia's expertise in this area was naturally profound.
As soon as the spell was cast over there, Leticia immediately detected it.
At the same time, the magic she had placed on Mo Zili began operating, hindering outside observation.
"Mm, so what do you plan to do?" Bai Ling, wearing pajamas and not quite awake, yawned, not understanding why Leticia had woken her up.
She was just a bodyguard; she didn't handle other matters.
"I plan to turn the tables and let those little mice walk into the trap themselves." Leticia grinned wickedly. "Listen to me, I plan to do this..."